Experience-"Something clever about Butterflies"

            Spending two hours, on two different days, in five separate locations each day where there will be about fifty-plus people isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Or at least not for me.  For starters, I tend to avoid crowds.  They make me feel claustrophobic and panic-attack-y, so I had to put in a bit of extra effort to think about where I should even go to fulfill this one.  Some places were easy, like the Grocery store or Work, places I pretty much have to go anyway, other places were required in separate assignments (Church, for instance), and others didn’t pan out the way I thought (like the oyster experience, maybe five people in the whole establishment).

            One of the more productive outings actually didn’t even happen in a space with fifty or more people, but just on a regular run down to the small grocery shop down the road.  I got to talking with the cashier girl, Hailey, and we hit it off, more than the polite conversations I’ve had with her (and her boyfriend) in the past.  We exchanged information (facebook, specifically, and I know how much Brad LOVES facebook), and made tentative plans to hang out at Trivia night at one of the local bars.  She didn’t show, possibly because she forgot, personal reasons, or something, or possibly because I didn’t know going in that the bar was a ‘members’ bar only, and she literally COULDN’T get in.  Either way, it was nice to talk to a somewhat new person, and make plans.

            Going to Church didn’t work out as well as I’d thought it would, sadly.  At least not for this assignment.  There were plenty of people, but Catholic church isn’t really like the church I’ve been to in the past.  It’s much more regimented, and far less social.  People seemed to be there to get in, get their penance, and get the hell out.  Not exactly conducive to chatting.  But oh well.

            Mostly this one just lead to me being more comfortable talking and socializing with strangers in other settings, like today in my new class, I actually talked with the girl next to me quite a bit, and we even hit the lunch room together.  A relationship I might actually pursue, at the very least for the duration of the class.  It feels good to be able to converse with total strangers again.  I haven’t’ felt this free to just talk with people since I was very, very young.  I really hope it’s a sign of things to come, and I’m going to do my damndest to ensure that it is.

Experience-"You are, you are, you aaare, UN-FORGIVEN!"

            Surprise, surprise.  I failed to complete “social.”  Truly shocking, I know.  I know I’m getting better, 6 out of 7.  But this one was just…I’m still trying to figure out how to approach these assignments, as so many of them (esp. social ones) are so foreign to me.  I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around how I was supposed to start.  Just walk up to someone and be all, “You need forgiveness?”  Then watch as they awkwardly back away, and around the corner.  Which wouldn’t bother me, really, except that it wouldn’t help me complete the assignment either.  I kept an ear open at work, hoping someone would fuck something up, so I could console and forgive them.  But alas, to no avail.  I contemplated posting a listing on Craigslist “FREE FORGIVENESS:  You tell me what you feel sorry about, and I’ll forgive you!” but I couldn’t decide where exactly it needed to go (considering their “free stuff” section specifically says ‘Nothing incorporeal’).  Oh well, maybe social will go better this week.

            Also?  10 points to whomever gets the title reference.  Hint:  It's song lyrics.

Assignment - Gluttony - Week 6 - Social

Objective - Social butterfly
Duration - 4 hours (7 days to complete)
Assignment - Spend 2 hours on 2 different occasions divided among 3 separate locations (the time does not have to be divided equally among each location) where there are at least 30 or more people gathered. Strike up a conversation with at least 3 strangers at each location. Attempt to get contact information to talk, email, hangout, or otherwise interact with those people at a future time.

Assignment - Temperance - Social - Week 5

Objective - Forgiveness
Duration - 15-30 mins (7 days to complete)
Assignment - Offer forgiveness to a stranger who has done wrong (but not wronged you).

Experience-Even Jesus only had 12!

            Yeah, that didn’t happen.  I will admit to failing greatly on this one, mostly because I did not push it hard enough.  I probably could have got 25 followers easy if I had posted my link to facebook, but that would have seriously cramped the ‘anonymous’ thing.  Then again, I know all of my current followers, but still.  I have a lot of family members on my facebook, and not all of them (most of them, really) would approve of this particular ‘experiment.’

            It also does not help that I am a pretty passive internet presence.  I do not actively participate in a ton of blogs and/or forums anymore.  There was a time I did, however, and it would have been simple to just throw the link in my ‘signature’ with a note saying ‘follow me’ and get at least a few curious stray clicks.  I do not really do that any more though.  Partly because I do not want to spend my time sitting around chatting with people online who I mostly do not know, and mostly do not give a crap about, but also because internet discourse is fairly bland, and flat.  As I mentioned in a previous post, people are also callous and cruel online, for no greater reason than they can be.  This is not to say I become emotionally distraught when someone online is nasty, I really could not care less most of the time.  However, it is a nuisance, and one I have grown sick of dealing with (i.e. trolls, flamers, /b/tards [even just their name is itself offensive], etc).  Honestly, they only reason I am even bothering with my own bog is because it was a condition of the experiment in which I had genuine interest.

            All that b.s. aside, I could have made more of an effort.  Google searched for similar things, especially on “Blogspot” and posted comments “Ooh, I like your blog, you should check mine out!”  It is disingenuous crap, but it would get the job done (to some degree).  Would I like to have 25 followers?  Sure, but if we’re being honest, I don’t think my blog is quite ready for that much of a following.  I haven’t got into the rhythm just yet, and I’m (clearly) failing to complete all objectives.  Maybe in a month or two I’ll be interesting enough to warrant it, but right now … I’m happy with the ones I’ve got.

Experience - Social Chastity - Week 1

This has been by far, the single most difficult of all the challenges. Well, perhaps difficult is not the right word, considering I actually managed to adhere to this one. But it IS the most annoying. Going into this one I was confident I would be able to stick-to-it without much adversity, just minor annoyance at the fact I was not able to warn my friends with whom I communicate exclusively online that I would no longer be on (for a week, anyway), or why. However, facebook and IM proved much stronger a pull on me than I had expected.

Even on the first night, I had to repeatedly remind myself NOT to log into facebook or Trillian. In my typical habit, I will log straight into Trillian after turning on the computer (or simply have it running all day if I’m running various other programs on the computer anyway), and then go to facebook to check for my friends’ status updates—though sidebar, I will confess not having to see constant updates about peoples podling hellspawn was a nice side-effect of this whole endeavored. I’m not saying I ‘hate’ children; I just don’t care enough about yours to be stoked every time I see they are taking a nap. I probably barely care enough about YOU to care if you are taking a nap. But I’m rambling—which is a quick, easy way I like to keep in touch with casual acquaintances, friends from high school, etc. You do not have to invest a lot of time or effort into it, but it can still be fun to drop the occasional one liner, or “hey, how’ve you been” every month or so. Not being able to IM was the worse, however.

I use Instant Message to talk with … well, pretty much everyone (including Brad). I may actually chat more than I text (which is saying something). It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s to the point, and I don’t have to have awkward phone conversations. When there’s a long silence on IM, it’s cool. Maybe they went to get a drink of water or something. You aren’t left sitting there wondering why it’s suddenly gone so quiet. Also, you can have a quick chat while doing other things (checking your bank account, looking at porn, ordering more books off amazon, etc—the second of which is SUPER awkward to try and do while actually talking with someone, fyi).

To bring this Sudafed/Dayquil induced rambling to a close, what I learned from all this is I’m an addict. I’m addicted to text based communications technology. And while that’s a nifty thing to have, it can actually break down ones ability to converse with another human being on a basic fucking level—and I freely admit, it’s a lot easier, and less intimidating to chat with someone online, than it is face-to-face.

Assignment - Lust - Week 2 - Social

Objective - Accumulation of false affection
Duration - 7 days (7 days to complete)
Assignment - Get at least 25 people to follow this blog.

Assignment - Chastity - Week 1 - Social

Objective - Refrain from distractions
Duration - 7 days (7 days to complete)
Assignment - Other than this blog, do not communicate with anyone, for any reason, online.